The liver is one of many vital human organs. Its tasks include many important metabolic functions as well as the detoxification of the body. If it is incurably diseased, the transplantation of a healthy liver is often the only way to save the life of the diseased person.
In liver transplantation, the diseased liver is removed and a healthy liver from a deceased organ donor or parts of a liver from an organ donor are transplanted. The aim of liver transplantation is to ensure that the newly transplanted liver can take over all functions. In Germany, approximately 900 liver transplants are currently performed each year.
What are the requirements for a liver transplant?
There are conditions that must be met in order to be considered for a liver transplant. First of all, the liver must be diseased in such a way that the liver is not able to regenerate. The liver disease can be congenital or acquired.
The disease of the liver must make a liver transplant necessary. If a liver transplantation has already been performed in the previous history, chronic transplant failure must be present in the long term in order to be put back on the waiting list for a transplant. The liver diseases requiring liver transplantation are often advanced liver diseases that
- Cause liver cirrhosis (primary biliary cirrhosis, primary sclerosing cholangitis, alcoholic liver disease, chronic active viral hepatitis, etc. ),
- Malignant liver tumors,
- Congenital malformations of the liver (extrahepatic bile duct atresia),
- Metabolic disorders (Wilson’s disease)
- Or acute liver failure due to viral hepatitis, poisoning or medication (e.g. paracetamol poisoning).
How to get on the waiting list?
In order to be placed on the waiting list for a liver transplant, the above mentioned requirements must be met. The patient must be suffering from a non-recoverable disease of the liver, which makes a liver transplant necessary. The decision to be placed on the waiting list is made by the treating hepatologist.
A hepatologist is a specialist in internal medicine, more precisely gastroenterology, who specializes in the liver and bile ducts. The hepatologist usually discusses the liver transplantation with the liver surgeon performing the operation and the patient. This means that a specialist from a transplant center takes care of the admission of the patient to the waiting list.
Transplant centers can be found in various hospitals throughout Germany and are very well specialized in various organ transplants. The doctor gives the necessary patient data to the Eurotransplant (ET) switchboard. Eurotransplant evaluates the data and decides whether a transplantation is considered necessary. The evaluation for transplantation is based on a number of different criteria that apply equally throughout Europe.
All articles in this series:
